Vogue 5510

It has been a great weekend for sewing!  Not only did I finish my 60's bikini, I started on a muslin for a dress I'm super excited about.  I saw Vogue 5510 on a blog recently, and I think it is pretty much the best dress I have ever seen in my life.  I would literally weep with joy if I saw something similar in a vintage store.



Ebay, Etsy, and Google searches turned up nothing on this pattern.  I set an eBay saved search, but it's been a few weeks and no listings and I was getting impatient.  I searched through pages and pages of patterns looking for something similar, and then I got the idea to search for "cross back dress".  One pattern came up.  This one:



Holy crap, the bodice is basically perfect!  All I would need to do is swap out the totally 90's skirt for a full one and it would be just like the gorgeous Vogue.  It was only $5, so I ordered it.  It arrived today, and I couldn't wait to get started. 

Since I'm pretty much making a Frankenpattern and I had no idea if it would even turn out, I made a muslin.  I reached for the rest of the hideous bears/frogs/turtles eating watermelon and started to cut.  I found the waistline marking on the pattern, and cut an inch below.



I did the same for the back. Look how tiny the pieces are!

The bodice front was easy, just two darts on either side.

The neckline was a little higher than I like.  I trimmed a bit away, and then placed the scrap on top of the facing piece, and trimmed that away too.

The dress had armhole stays, and you measured the stay from a guideline on the pattern. I used some pink single-fold bias tape. I have a ton of the stuff and I never use it.



I sewed together my facings, sewed it to the bodice, and then turned it right side out.



Then it was time to move to the back. It has a dart, which I bet I could omit. The dart is probably just to give shaping around the butt-al region, but since I'm ditching the skirt, they're probably not necessary.

The next step was to baste the straps to the outside of the back bodice, and then sew the backs to the fronts.

And here's the finished back of the muslin. It looks almost exactly how I wanted!

Changes I am going to make are:

• Lengthening the back bodice piece by a few inches.  The armholes were a little low, and once I sew the skirt on, the bodice back would only be about an inch long.  Plus, as is stands, it would be impossible to wear a bra with.  I need to at least be able to wear a strapless with it.
• Sewing the straps to the bodice front.  The directions say to affix three snaps, but it's not necessary.  I pinned it and I could easily get it over my head with the straps attached.  I think snaps would look messy and be a pain in the ass.

So I think this project is a go!  I just need to find the perfect floral fabric.

Oh, and a funny story.  My husband doesn't know what a muslin is, so he thought this was an actual dress I was making.  I explained that it was just a test to make sure everything fit and worked out.  He thought it was a shame to throw it in the garbage after working on it for hours and said I should just finish it.  Then I had a better idea - I could sew it to the muslin I made for my bloomers and make the ugliest romper in existence! 

Have a great Sunday!